A Christmas to Remember
by sangreal7
Summary: When Emily comes over to help Dave decorate for the team dinner he's hosting at his house, both of them discover something magical about the memories of Christmas.  Written for flashpenguin for the CCOAC Christmas Gift Fic Exchange.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This story was written for flashpenguin for the CCOAC Christmas Gift Fic Exchange. Her wonderful prompts were – Song: A Christmas to Remember; Items: a last-minute tree, an unexpected snowfall, a homemade angel.**

**This will be four chapters. Flashpenguin, I really hope you like it, and that you have a truly blessed Christmas.**

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><p><span>Chapter 1 - A Last-Minute Tree<span>

As she made the drive out to David Rossi's beautiful home, Emily Prentiss reflected on how perfect the location was for the team's Christmas dinner planned for the following night. When he'd realized everyone had plans to spend the actual holiday weekend out of state, Rossi had proposed they all get together at his home on the Sunday before Christmas. Emily had offered to help him decorate and they'd planned for her to come over on Saturday afternoon.

Driving past houses covered in twinkling lights, Emily bit her lip absentmindedly. She found her mind wandering even more, the carols playing quietly on the radio not enough to hold her attention. So many things had changed in just one short year. She felt as though a dozen years had passed since the last Christmas, instead of only one. Still, she didn't want to dwell on the painful memories, preferring instead to focus on how much better this December was turning out to be.

As difficult as things had been for the team in the past few months, no one had done more than Rossi to try to keep them together. Not so much as a working team – they were professionals, after all – but more as a group of friends with a shared history. It had been a slow process, but it was working. Forced to confront some difficult truths, the team was becoming even closer.

Emily wished she could say the same about her relationship with the enigmatic senior profiler. Oh, they were definitely better friends; after all, Dave had confided in her when his ex-wife, Carolyn, had briefly re-entered his life. He'd spoken to her, Emily, of his hopes and wishes for his relationship with Carolyn. Later, he'd told her of the pain of losing Carolyn and of the utter heartbreak of losing his newborn son. He'd said he felt he could talk to her about it, because he knew she could empathize. Emily had understood his unspoken reference to her own loss, and had given him the support of her listening ear whenever he seemed to want it.

Still, an ache of a different sort had taken up residence inside her heart. Dave clearly still loved his ex-wife, and Emily understood it meant she could only aspire to being his friend. It was a painful thought, because she wanted to be so much more to him.

The rest of the drive passed in a blur of memory and misguided hope, and Emily made the turnoff into Dave's long driveway as she tried to shake off the slight sadness that, left unchecked, could overtake her hopes for a wonderful weekend. Stepping out of the car, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relishing the chill in the air.

The sound of the front door made her turn around to see Dave waiting in the doorway with a slight smile on his face. He wore his trademark jeans, but the shirt and jacket were replaced with a navy blue sweater that emphasized his fit upper body. Emily's heart did a tiny flip, which she resolutely ignored as she walked up the front steps.

"Prentiss, you made it!" Dave greeted her with a quick hug and ushered her into the warmth of the house.

"Of course," Emily grinned as she slipped out of her stylish black swing cape and hung it up. "Couldn't leave you to do all the decorating by yourself, could I?"

Instead of responding, Dave let out an appreciative wolf-whistle. "Now that is a very good look on you, Agent Prentiss."

One eyebrow quirked as he took in her knee-high black boots, skinny jeans and fitted red sweater liberally sprinkled with tiny white snowflakes.

Emily could feel the blush heating her cheeks. To divert his attention from her embarrassment, she simply said, "Thanks. Now … what about that decorating?"

Dave led the way into the lounge. "Well, there really isn't that much to do … just the garlands for the stairs, the wreaths for the doors and" – he turned around to wink at her – "the mistletoe."

Emily laughed. "Uh huh … and who do you plan to catch with that little trick?"

"Who knows?" Dave smirked. "Could be anyone … we'll see who gets lucky."

In the lounge, Emily looked around while Dave went over to check the fireplace. There were candles and cards on the mantel over the fireplace; all that was missing was maybe some holly for greenery. The television was on, though the volume was low. Still, Emily could recognize one of her favorite movie scenes – Scrooge waking up on Christmas morning.

As she studied the room, Emily couldn't help feeling there was something missing, but it didn't exactly hit her until she took a deep breath … then she realized. There was no smell of evergreen … there was no Christmas tree.

"Where's your Christmas tree?"

"What?" Dave asked as he walked back towards her.

"Your Christmas tree." Emily repeated patiently.

"Oh … oh, I don't have one."

"What do you mean you don't have a tree?" Emily Prentiss was incredulous as she looked around the room again, as though expecting one to suddenly materialize.

"What's hard to understand about that?" David Rossi muttered, "I just don't have a tree."

"But … why? It's Christmas. You've got to have a tree. Christmas isn't Christmas without a tree!"

"I haven't had one in years. I just never saw the need."

"Well, you need one now!" Emily stated firmly. "Look at it like this … either we go out and get you a tree, or you spend the entire party explaining to everyone why you don't have one."

When Dave still looked doubtful, Emily added in a quiet tone that somehow gave her words even more impact, "Just imagine what PG would say."

Dave's eyes widened in horror. "Okay, okay … we need to go get a tree."

Laughing softly, Emily headed back to the foyer to get her cape. Snagging Dave's coat first, she tossed it to him, and then slid hers on and buttoned it up. "You're driving. We're gonna need the truck."

Five minutes later, they were headed into town to scour the lots for the perfect Christmas tree.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's Chapter 2. Written for flashpenguin. This should have been up much earlier today, but the time just flew away from me. Hope you enjoy!**

**The final two chapters will be up tomorrow.**

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><p><span>An Unexpected Snowfall<span>

Just over an hour later, Dave and Emily were headed back to his house, a beautiful, almost nine-foot-tall Douglas fir tied to the top of his truck. He glanced over at the woman in the passenger seat, her head tilted back against the headrest, eyes closed, softly humming along under her breath with the Christmas carols playing on the radio. As they waited at a red light, Dave studied her as unobtrusively as she could. With her cheeks and lips rosy from the cold, she looked impossibly young. He found himself incredibly glad that she was back with them.

When the light changed and they moved off again, Emily spoke without opening her eyes. "I suppose we're going to need to find a store to buy some decorations. Any suggestions?"

"I have decorations."

His response made her sit up and blink. "You do? Really?"

She looked at him with one eyebrow raised slightly. "Rossi, how is it you have decorations, but you don't put up a tree?"

"Because I've had them for years. Some of them were from my mom … and some were ones we'd bought when I was still married … to Carolyn."

"Oh." Her soft exhalation was clearly apologetic, and Dave reached over and patted her hand gently.

"It's okay, Em," he said, and went on to explain, "I kept them, and brought the boxes along with me through the other two marriages, but I've just never used them after Carolyn and I divorced."

"Didn't she …" Emily began hesitantly, and then stopped.

"Go on," Dave urged. "It's okay … I don't mind talking to you about it … any of it."

His words warmed her. She could still feel her arm tingling where he'd touched her. It made her feel a little braver about asking. "Didn't she want to keep any of those things?"

"Hmm … I guess …" Dave hesitated a little before continuing, "I think by that point, Carolyn didn't care anymore about things. Neither did I really. When we divorced, she moved out of state, and I remained in the house. When I sold it, I just packed up everything and brought it with me. I'm not even sure what all is in that attic anymore."

"Maybe you'll find some surprises when you go looking for the decorations."

"Maybe." Dave answered noncommittally.

A few minutes later, Emily broke the comfortable silence which had descended, "Look! It's snowing!"

"Huh. So much for the weather report," Dave muttered dryly. "I guess it's going to be a white Christmas after all."

They chatted about other white Christmases they'd each experienced, both at home and abroad. By the time Dave turned the truck into his driveway the snow had already built to up to an inch on the ground and it was still coming down.

"It's going to be tough to get this tree inside with just the two of us, isn't it?" Emily asked as she stepped out of the truck and shut the door.

"Don't worry … I have an idea." Dave answered, coming around the back of the truck.

While Emily watched, he went to the garage at the side of the house and returned pushing a small hand trolley. Dave began to undo the ropes that held the tree in place, while Emily steadied it. Working together, they got the tree down on to the trolley and slowly they maneuvered it into the house, through the foyer and into the lounge.

There was lots of giggling on Emily's part and a little swearing on Dave's when things didn't go quite as planned, but after about half an hour, they got the tree into the stand – also newly purchased – and set up in the corner of the lounge.

Stepping back, Emily looked up at the tree and sighed in satisfaction. "It's beautiful already! It's going to look wonderful when we get the decorations up!"

"Let me just put the truck away, then we'll go up to the attic, okay?"

"Um hmm," Emily murmured distractedly, staring up almost dreamily at the tall tree.

"Hey, Prentiss," Dave called from the direction of the front door scant moments later. "You might want to see this."

Surprised, Emily quickly walked back to the front of the house, saying, "What is it, Dave?"

Wordlessly, he pointed through the open doorway. When Emily turned, she was greeted with a blanket of white outside. Snow covered everything, including the truck and Emily's car as well. As she watched open-mouthed in shock, Dave punched a few buttons on his phone.

"The up-to-date weather report is calling it a freak snowstorm. It's going to get bad tonight, but it should clear up by tomorrow."

"I hope it clears up in time for everyone to get here for the party!" Without turning around, Emily continued, "It's going to be awful trying to drive through that."

"Well you're not going to find out," he responded decisively. "You'll stay here tonight."

At that, she turned to face him. "What?"

"C'mon Emily, I know you have your go-bag in the trunk of your car." His expression was impassive, but Emily knew he wouldn't back down easily. "You can have the guestroom. When the snow clears tomorrow, then you can go home."

"I … I think that might be a good idea, Dave," Emily answered, and it was suddenly hard for her to meet his eyes.

"Good." He moved toward the steps. "Toss me your keys, and I'll get your bag and put your car in the garage."

"I can do it."

"No, you stay inside where it's warm. I'll only be a few minutes." With that, Dave closed the door behind him and went out into the snow.

Emily remained staring at the closed door for a moment, her thoughts in a whirl. She was spending the night in Dave's house. That was a new one … even for their growing friendship. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about being in such close proximity to him … but there was no choice really. She'd just have to deal with it.

Her mind made up, Emily headed to the kitchen to make them both cups of hot chocolate, which she knew Dave would welcome after being out in the cold.

When he came back inside, less than ten minutes afterward, she heard his footsteps going up the stairs, then moments later, coming back down.

"Emily?"

"In the kitchen."

She handed him the hot drink as he walked in, and watched him raise an eyebrow in surprise before taking a sip.

"Mmm … that's good." He accompanied his appreciative murmur with a smile. "What did you put in here?"

"Whiskey," Emily responded with a smirk.

Dave laughed. "That'll teach me to let you know where my liquor cabinet is."

With drinks in hand, they headed up the stairs to search for decorations in the attic.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Merry Christmas to all of you, and especially to flashpenguin.**

**The decorations from Dave's attic are modeled after the decorations on my own Christmas tree, and while none as old as Dave's, all were just as carefully collected, and I hope to pass them on someday.  
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**The final chapter will be up sometime later tonight.**

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><p><span>A Homemade Angel<span>

Emily had been about to follow Dave into his attic at the very top of the stairs, but the moment she got a good look into the room in front of her, she stopped in the doorway. Her jaw dropped in an ungainly expression of pure shock. It was the neatest attic she'd ever seen in her life. There was a wide space directly before her, and there were shelves and cupboards ranged around the room.

_Oh my god!_ She thought. _They're_ _even labeled! He is so an anal-retentive neat freak!_

Emily bit her lip to stifle the laughter that threatened to escape. She must have made some sort of noise because Dave turned around. She was sure he could see the mirth in her eyes, although she was trying hard to keep her expression neutral.

He did raise an eyebrow at her, but chose not to comment, saying instead, "I think they're over there." He pointed to the far left of the room.

Noting a slight look of reluctance on Dave's face, Emily walked purposefully in the direction he had indicated. "Well, let's see what we can find. I want to decorate a tree!"

When she heard his footsteps behind her, Emily smiled softly to herself. Together, they went through the neat cupboard, finding the boxes labeled _Christmas _on the lowest two shelves. It was fairly obvious they hadn't been disturbed in quite a long time.

Dave picked up the smallest of the three boxes and handed it to Emily, taking a larger one himself. "I'll come back for the other one."

In the lounge, they set the boxes on the sideboard, near to the tree. Opening the smaller box first, Emily found strands of clear lights. "I guess we should put these up first and then start on the decorations."

It took them about twenty minutes to wrap the tree in strands of twinkling Christmas lights. Again, there had been laughter and swearing, particularly when Dave managed to get his ankles tangled in the lights … twice. Emily had not been able to hold in her laughter at that point, and the dark, un-amused look which Dave tossed her really hadn't helped at all.

Once the lights were up, Dave headed back to the attic to retrieve the final box, while Emily opened the other box they'd brought down.

"Oh!" The whispered exclamation left her lips involuntarily as she stared at the contents. There were layers of decorations; each piece nestled in its own bed of soft tissue to protect it from damage. They had obviously been packed away with loving care.

Tenderly, Emily began to lift the pieces out one by one; there were delicate glass pieces – angels, trees, snowmen and stars. Further down, she found two sets of hand-painted porcelain bells, each one bearing one of the scenes from the song "_The Twelve Days of Christmas"_. In the final layer, she found more hand-painted porcelain pieces – Santas, stockings, Nativity scenes and more trees and snowmen. These were older than the first two layers, and Emily assumed they were the pieces which Dave had inherited from his mother.

The collection at once both warmed and broke Emily's heart. It was clear someone had collected all of the pieces with a lot of love and care. For her, it spoke of Christmases surrounded by family, full of warmth and laughter – so different from the austere, formal Christmas celebrations she had grown up with, many of them in countries that didn't even celebrate Christmas themselves. It woke a longing in her she had long thought forgotten.

Attempting to shake off the melancholy that had begun creeping over her again, Emily looked around to realize it had been a while since Dave had gone back for the last box. Concerned, she headed back up to the attic.

Walking in, she saw him crouched in front of the cupboard, with the final box open before him. There was something about the set of his shoulders that tugged at her heart. Moving closer, she knelt beside him. The look on his face took her breath away. She had never before seen such raw sorrow in anyone's face, despite the nature of their job. In his hands he held an exquisite, homemade angel, meant for the top of the tree.

"Dave?"

"I forgot about this." He spoke more to himself than to her. "How could I have forgotten? Carolyn made this the Christmas of '78. She was five months pregnant."

Emily made a soft, inarticulate sound in her throat.

"What does it say about me that I forgot all about this?"

He looked at Emily with a pleading expression, but then, without waiting for an answer, he reached to put the angel back into the box, saying brokenly, "I can't do this."

Emily touched her hand softly to his arm to stop his movement. He looked at her, half curious, half sad. "Yes, you can, Dave."

When he would have spoken, she hurried on, "Maybe this is the Christmas you stop forgetting. Maybe this is the Christmas you remember … everything."

Tucking her hand into the crook of his arm, Emily gave a gentle tug and Dave stood up, bringing the box with him. Downstairs, he placed it on the table and turned his attention to the decorations which Emily had unpacked. Hoping to bring Dave out of his mood, Emily picked up one of the oldest painted Santa decorations and asked, "Was this one from your mother?"

Taking the beautiful piece from her, Dave smiled as he contemplated it. "Yes … but my Nonna actually brought this with her from Italy … some of these others too."

With that, Dave began to select certain pieces and tell Emily about them. It was then an easy and natural transition to begin placing the lovely decorations onto the tree. As they worked together companionably, Dave told Emily more stories of many of the pieces, including the ones he and Carolyn had bought together for the son they had been expecting.

Once they had hung the last porcelain bell, Dave turned to the last box on the table, and slowly lifted the angel out of it. Handing it to Emily, he said, "Let me get the small stepladder from the kitchen."

She stared at the striking piece in her hands. The angel had a porcelain face and hands; her dress was a confection of hand-tatted, beaded lace over an underskirt of soft, worn cotton. It may have originally been white, but the colour was now that rich, subtle ivory that lace took on with age. The dress sat over a plastic cone to allow it to be placed on the top of the tree. A frame of floral wire covered in a matching ivory netting made up the angel's wings, and the gossamer fabric was detailed with more lace and beading. It was the loveliest thing she had ever seen.

When Dave returned, he set the stepladder down in front of the tree, and Emily made to hand the angel to him.

"No … you do it … please."

She could not refuse him. Stepping carefully onto the ladder as Dave held it, Emily reached up and placed the angel gently on the top of the tree, settling it into place. Pulling her hand back, she stared at it with a satisfied expression on her face. The tree was simply perfect.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And finally, the last chapter. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day, filled with all the things you want to remember in years to come. Specially for flashpenguin.**

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><p><span>A Christmas to Remember<span>

Looking up at Emily, Dave found himself truly grateful once more for her presence in his life. He didn't quite understand how, with the simplest of words, she could always reach right to the heart of his emotions, and leave him feeling comforted. The sense of disquiet, of things unfinished that he had carried with him ever since Carolyn had told him of her disease, had finally begun to leave him … and he had Emily to thank for that. The act of talking about the decorations as they had hung them had made him open up to her about memories he'd never spoken of to anyone else … not even Carolyn, despite their years of friendship. It amazed him that Emily had worked her way into his heart and simply took up residence there.

A shift on the ladder made him realize that she was ready to come down. He raised his hands to her waist to steady her as she descended. She came down into the circle of his arms, and then turned to face him. They both froze for a long moment – a moment charged with something indefinable that only slightly surprised Dave, because his deeper feelings for the woman in his arms were something with which he was very familiar.

Dave kept his gaze locked with Emily's, watching her eyes widen as he leaned in slowly, giving her sufficient chance to move away if she wanted to. Still, when Emily jerked back, and he saw the rising panic in her face, he was caught off guard.

"Em …"

"I … I'm sorry, Dave. I just …" she trailed off and stepped away from him.

"Tell me."

Taking a deep breath, Emily asked, "What about Carolyn?"

Dave matched her inhalation with one of his own. His eyes were serious as he reached over and took her hand gently. "Come and sit, Emily. We should talk."

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><p>Emily was stunned. She could hardly make sense of what had almost happened. For so long, she'd thought she had no chance at all with David Rossi. She'd always thought that her interest was clear enough that had he wanted to, he would have acted on it.<p>

After she'd returned from Paris, Dave had been the only one whose behavior felt the same to her … their interactions had felt natural. Gratitude had grown into a deeper interest, but when he'd come to her, so excited about the possibility of Carolyn coming back into his life, Emily had put away her fledgling feelings and tried to be his friend.

She had been so sure Dave had still carried a torch for Carolyn, and losing her a second time – so permanently – had made him regret ever having given her up.

Now, Emily let him guide her to over to the sofa in front of the fireplace. Absently, she noted its deep brown colour, and the comfortable feel as she sank back into the seat. Dave still held her hand in his and Emily tried hard not to focus on the sensation of his strong, callused flesh against her own. That almost-kiss had been distracting enough; if she concentrated on the feel of his skin against hers, she was sure she would forget any question she had. Slipping her fingers out of his, Emily waited for Dave to speak.

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><p>He reminded himself to look at her while he explained; staring into the fire would not allow her to see the truth in his eyes. Twisting slightly in the seat so that he faced her, Dave rested one arm along the back of the couch, his body language indicating his willingness to discuss this with her … to be honest with her. He noted that though Emily had pulled her hand out of his own, she had not folded her arms, or in any other way closed herself off from him. At the moment, she was biting her lip, but her gaze was open and encouraging – making it easy for him to speak.<p>

"The truth is … I don't think Carolyn and I ever stopped loving each other. Emma might have been my first love, but Carolyn was my first chance at happiness – my first chance at a family of my own. It was what I felt I had missed out on with Emma, and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

"We were happy … especially when Carolyn got pregnant. Those eight months were the best part of our marriage, I think. But then, after we … after we lost Jamie …" Dave trailed off, a hint of the sorrow flashing across his face again.

Emily reached out and took Dave's hand in hers again. He flashed a grateful glance at her, getting the strength from her to continue his story. "Well anyway, that's when we started to drift apart. I threw myself into work, because it was the only way I could cope. And Carolyn, well, she felt shut out from my pain and alone with hers. In the end, we simply drifted apart. We didn't know how to be the person the other one had fallen in love with anymore. So we divorced, but we remained friends. There was never anything bitter or hateful between us … just bittersweet, really."

Dave paused and ran his free hand over his face. He didn't even realize that the hand that held Emily's was stroking it gently. He was coming to the harder part of the story now, and he kept his gaze trained on Emily's beautiful face. The warmth in her eyes, and her tender smile, continued to give him encouragement.

"When you were … gone … I had a lot of time to think about how I truly felt about you. Even so, when you came back, I said nothing. I told myself that you couldn't possibly feel like that about me. All the same, Emily, it got harder and harder every day … becoming closer friends with you, while still convincing myself that it could never be anything more. I doubted myself."

Again, Dave paused. This time, he reached out and took hold of Emily's other hand, drawing just a little closer to her in the process. "Then Carolyn came back into my life. I'll confess, when I first told you that maybe there was something there, I was hoping you'd protest …"

He broke off as Emily jerked in surprise. "You what? What're you saying, Dave?"

"I told you … I already knew I felt more than just friendship for you … so I thought if you said something negative about Carolyn and me, then maybe I'd have an idea of how you felt."

"But I didn't, did I?" Emily whispered slowly. "Instead, I … encouraged you. Oh, Dave! I'm …"

"No, Em. Don't apologize. There is no need. My openness with Carolyn made it easier for her to ask for what she needed, so I don't regret anything."

"Then …" Emily paused, unsure what to say.

"That's what I've been trying to say to you," Dave responded. "I regret that Carolyn didn't have a chance at a long, healthy life … but I don't regret that we didn't have the chance to get back together."

"Oh!" Emily breathed the word softly, and there was a hint of vulnerability in her face and a sheen in her dark eyes.

Moving closer, Dave slowly drew her into his arms. "What I truly regret, Emily, is not taking the chance when you first came back to tell you that I wanted more for us. The main thing Carolyn's death taught me was that you don't waste the opportunities you've been given … because there are no promises of tomorrow."

Lifting a hand to tenderly cup the side of her face and stroking his thumb along the softness of her cheek, Dave continued, "Whatever tomorrows we may have, Emily, I'd like to spend them with you … if you want that too."

"Yes, please, Dave." Emily's response was barely a whisper as she nestled her cheek into the hand cradling it. "I would really, really like that."

This time, when he moved to kiss her, she met him half way.

Drawing back after long moments, Dave murmured tenderly, his eyes never leaving Emily's, "This is the Christmas I want to remember for the rest of my life."

Wordlessly, Emily pressed herself closer to Dave, relishing the feel of his arms moving to hold her close to him. "So do I."

FIN


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